No, it isn't really that bad, but I do like the option of a physical book as well. As a reader, it's one thing. Ebooks are cheaper, they're (sometimes) more convenient and easier than a physical book. (Although I'm definitely a physical book fan.) But as a writer? You start wading into digital rights and all of that stuff. It's just difficult.

I was checking out a small press that looked attractive, but the requirement was that you had to sell so many ebooks before they'd even print your book. Sort of a trial run. That turned me off.

I also think ebooks are harder to read. If I'm critiquing a novel, for example, I'll print the whole thing out and critique on paper instead of reading it online. It's easier on my eyes. It feels more comfortable to curl up under a blanket with a good book than it does to curl up with my laptop or a kindle. But ebooks are here to stay, in my opinion, and we might as well embrace them. It's almost foolhardy not to.

E-books are the future. Can't stop it, folks. Might as well embrace it now, because at some point you'll be forced to. I say this as a man who adamantly denied the future music was of a digital sort. Now I own a 1TB external hard drive that has my entire collection, over 100,000 MP3s, ripped to it.

I'm still not abandoning CDs, of course, but I've opened my door to the digital world. Publishing is about 10 years behind the music industry. Digital "books" are the future. Fact.

What I hate about some bands is this doomsday wallowing in the fictional nonsense that the physical CD is dead. Bullshit. Is vinyl dead? Hardly. In fact, vinyl is more popular today than it was 20 years ago. Explain that one! But there are some bands that think fans only want MP3s. Many do, of course, but not all. So why abandon those fans that still do love the physical album? Some bands embrace both. They release an album digitally, but also press up a small batch of CDs (500, maybe) and sell them via their website, autographed and such. Now they've pleased all their fans.

Smart, right?

Well, some publishers are going the same digital route, and they've gone strictly digital. That might be a good move financially, but it abandons far too many consumers, leaves them in the cold. So why not compliment that move with a switch to Print-on-Demand publishing as well? If someone doesn't own a Kindle or some other e-reader, they can order a print copy. The shipping might take a week or two longer, but it's a way to please everyone. And it's cheap!

ebooks are an important and viable income stream, however there are enough of us old timers and there will always be a niche market for print books, especially the higher end limited editions.

I predict that ebooks will not take over as fast as it did in the music business only because the sensation is different. Music was either vinyl or tape, then disc. Frankly, the transition wasn't any more drastic than VCR to DVD for the average consumer.

Reading for many is a tactile pleasure and a book can give comfort. Kindles are not cozy. I dislike ebook only publishers because they turn their back on what the customers and writers want. Hard to do a signing with a kindle. It should be an option, but not the only one.